Sponsored search coverage expansion

ABSTRACT

An embodiment is provided wherein a search query is received from a user. It may then be determined if the search query would ordinarily result in a results page having no sponsored search advertising. If the search would ordinarily result in a results page having no sponsored search advertising, then advertising that would ordinarily be displayed in response to each of two or more search terms making up the search query individually may be aggregated. Then one or more advertisements may be selected from the aggregated advertising. Then the selected advertisements may be displayed on a results page responsive to the search query.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application and claims priority fromU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/567,099, entitled “Sponsored SearchCoverage Expansion,” filed on Dec. 5, 2006, by Kavel Patel, which isincorporated herein by reference and for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of Internet searching. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to sponsored search coverageand expansion.

2. Description of the Related Art

When searching for results in an Internet search engine or directory, itis common for advertisements to be displayed on the web page displayingthe results of the search. FIG. 1 is a screen capture illustrating asearch for the terms “iPod,” “nano”, “white,” and “buy.” As can be seen,ads 100 may be displayed above the search results 102. The ads 100displayed above search results are often called “North” ads. Ads 104 mayalso be displayed below the search results 102. These ads 104 are oftencalled “South” ads. “East” ads 106 may be displayed to the right of thesearch results 102. Search results 102 are sometimes called “natural”results.

The advertisements may take the form of sponsored search results,wherein sponsors pay to have particular search term combinations returna results page in which the sponsor's links are also displayed (alongwith, perhaps, a short description of the link) Sponsors often pay forsuch advertising on a per-click basis, wherein the total advertisingcharge is based on the number of times users click on the sponsoredlink.

Currently, however, an average of 35% of all search results pages haveno sponsored search ads at all (i.e., have no “coverage”). This may bedue to a variety of factors, such as that the search term combination isvery narrow, very long, or that advertisers simply are not aware of thesearch term combination(s). What is needed is a solution that aids inmonetizing search results pages that have no coverage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment is provided wherein a search query is received from auser. It may then be determined if the search query would ordinarilyresult in a results page having no sponsored search advertising. If thesearch would ordinarily result in a results page having no sponsoredsearch advertising, then advertising that would ordinarily be displayedin response to each of two or more search terms making up the searchquery individually may be aggregated. Then one or more advertisementsmay be selected from the aggregated advertising. Then the selectedadvertisements may be displayed on a results page responsive to thesearch query.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a screen capture illustrating an example search in a searchengine or directory.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for deliveringadvertising to a user in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for deliveringadvertising to a user in accordance with another embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for charging advertisersfor advertising in accordance with another embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for deliveringadvertising to a user in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for deliveringadvertising to a user in accordance with another embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary network diagram illustrating some of theplatforms which may be employed with various embodiments of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to specific embodiments of theinvention including the best modes contemplated by the inventors forcarrying out the invention. Examples of these specific embodiments areillustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention isdescribed in conjunction with these specific embodiments, it will beunderstood that it is not intended to limit the invention to thedescribed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to coveralternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included withinthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.In the following description, specific details are set forth in order toprovide a thorough understanding of the present invention. The presentinvention may be practiced without some or all of these specificdetails. In addition, well known features may not have been described indetail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention.

During the inventive process surrounding the present invention, asignificant amount of research was conducted to measure the usagepatterns of users performing searchers, and specifically patternsinvolving the search queries that resulted in pages with no coverage.Through this research, users could be classified based on the amount ofsearches they performed (i.e., pages consumed). The classificationscould be heavy, moderate, and light users, with light users consumingthe least amount of pages. In this research, it was unexpectedlydiscovered that light users have the best likelihood of clicking onadvertising on the search results page. It was also unexpectedlydiscovered that a significant proportion of light user activity has nocoverage. In other words, it was unexpectedly discovered that asignificantly large volume of search queries that resulted in pages withno coverage were potentially the most valuable type of search query.This realization resulted in approaching the problem from a completelynew perspective—i.e., from the user perspective.

Additionally, through the research described above, it was unexpectedlydiscovered that a large number of the queries resulting in pages with nocoverage were queries made up of multiple search terms, wherein eachterm itself would have resulted in pages with coverage. For example, theuser might search the terms “ipod,” “nano,” “white,” “sunnyvale,” “buy.”When searching all those terms at once results in a page with nocoverage, the individual search terms themselves would have resulted inpages with coverage (for example, if “ipod” alone was searched). In anembodiment of the present invention, if a query would result in a pagewith no coverage, an advanced matching process may be applied to matchads that pertain to components of the multiple term query. Thus, in theexample above, an advanced matching process could be used to drawadvertisements placed on the term “ipod” and “nano” and place them onthe result pages of the combined query. The cost of the ads may bediscounted to account for the fact that the advertisers did notspecifically request the particular term combination. In one embodimentof the present invention, these ads are displayed for free (i.e., theadvertiser pays nothing when the user clicks on it). The hope with thefree ad is that over time the advertiser will recognize that a goodnumber of visitors came to their website via the ad and that thesevisitors were more likely to purchase goods or services, thus ultimatelyallowing the search engine to start charging for ads on this query.

In the embodiment where a discount is applied to the per-click charge,the discount may be tied to the relevancy of the search combination tothe originally purchased query for advertisement. The closer the searchquery is to the one the advertiser purchased, the higher the cost. Forexample, if the advertiser purchased an ad on the results page of “ipodnano,” then a discounted advertisement may be placed on the results pageof “ipod nano white” and an even further discounted advertisement may beplaced on the results page of “ipod nano white sunnyvale buy.” Theadvanced matching process may also take into account the geographiclocation of the advertiser (for advertisers where geographic locationmatters) and use that information in determining whether to display anadvertisement on a particular search term combination and/or how much tocharge for such an advertisement. The advanced matching process may alsoapply weighting to certain terms, such that common variations of aparticular search query, for example adding a color (e.g., white) to thesearch term may receive a higher weighting than uncommon variations of aparticular search query, for example, adding a tangential term (e.g.,astronomy). The advanced matching process may also base its decision onthe popularity of certain terms, the price per click for certain terms,the historic click-through rate for the query, the grammatical contextof the query (e.g., proper nouns are more likely to result inclick-through), and other factors. It should be noted that this advancedmatching process may be applied to the selection of which advertisementsto display in addition to the determination of costs to be charged.

In another embodiment of the present invention, queries that wouldresult in pages with no coverage are classified into categories. Thesecategories may be based on the categorization scheme of the underlyingsearch engine or directory. Then, for any queries in a particularcategory that would result in pages with no coverage, the advertisementsthat have historically the best click-though rates in that category maybe displayed. This results in the advertisements with the bestlikelihood of generating revenues being utilized for queries that wouldordinarily have resulted in pages with no coverage.

In another embodiment of the present invention, keyword combinationsthat would ordinarily result in pages with no coverage may be bundledusing categorization. These bundles may then be sold in packages toadvertisers at a discounted price per click. The major selling point forthis embodiment would be the fact that users are searching for theseterms and no advertiser is bidding on them. These bundles may becompiled using historic search and click-through information to resultin a complex bundle of keywords that an advertiser wouldn't ordinarilybe able to figure out on its own.

It should be noted that each of these embodiments may be mixed andmatched with other embodiments in various combinations.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for deliveringadvertising to a user in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. At 200, a search query may be received from the user, whereinthe search query is comprised of two or more search terms. At 202, itmay be determined if the search query would ordinarily result in aresults page having no sponsored search advertising. Sponsored searchadvertising is advertising that is based on the search query (i.e.,whether the advertisement is shown and/or what type of advertising isshown is based on the search query). At 204, if the search query wouldordinarily result in a results page having no sponsored searchadvertising, then advertising that would ordinarily be displayed inresponse to each of the two or more search terms individually may beaggregated. It should be noted that the term “aggregated” should be readbroadly, and should not be limited to actual physical compilation ofresults. It may, for example, simply involve identifying variouscombinations of search terms that would ordinarily result in pageshaving sponsored search advertising. At 206, one or more advertisementsmay be selected from the aggregated advertising to display. Thisselection may involve an advanced matching process described above. At208, the selected advertisements may be displayed on a results pageresponsive to the search query. If the search query would not ordinarilyresult in a results page having no sponsored search advertising, then at210 the results page may be displayed with the pre-designated sponsoredsearch advertising.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for deliveringadvertising to a user in accordance with another embodiment of thepresent invention. At 300, a search query may be received from the user,wherein the search query is comprised of two or more search terms. At302, it may be determined if the search query would ordinarily result ina results page having no sponsored search advertising. Sponsored searchadvertising is advertising that is based on the search query (i.e.,whether the advertisement is shown and/or what type of advertising isshown is based on the search query). At 304, if the search query wouldordinarily result in a results page having no sponsored searchadvertising, then the search query may be classified into a category,wherein one or more other queries have already been classified into thecategory. At 306, advertising that would ordinarily be displayed inresponse to the other queries classified into the category may beaggregated. Once again it should be noted that the term “aggregated”should be construed broadly. It may be something as simple asidentifying other queries in the category. At 308, one or moreadvertisements may be selected from the aggregated advertising todisplay. This selection may involve an advanced matching processdescribed above. At 310, the selected advertisements may be displayed ona results page responsive to the search query. If the search query wouldnot ordinarily result in a results page having no sponsored searchadvertising, then at 312 the results page may be displayed with thepre-designated sponsored search advertising.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for charging advertisersfor advertising in accordance with another embodiment of the presentinvention. At 400, two or more queries that would ordinarily result inresults pages having no sponsored search advertising may be found. At402, the two or more search queries may be classified into a category.At 404, the two or more search queries may be bundled together to besold as a package to advertisers.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for deliveringadvertising to a user in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. Each element of this apparatus may be embodied in hardware,software, or any combination thereof. A search query receiver 500 mayreceive a search query from the user, wherein the search query iscomprised of two or more search terms. A sponsored search results pagesearch query determiner 502 coupled to the search query receiver 500 maydetermine if the search query would ordinarily result in a results pagehaving no sponsored search advertising. If the search query wouldordinarily result in a results page having no sponsored searchadvertising, then an individual search term sponsored search advertisingaggregator 504 coupled to the sponsored search results page search querydeterminer 502 may aggregate advertising that would ordinarily bedisplayed in response to each of the two or more search termsindividually. An advertising selector 506 coupled to the individualsearch term sponsored search advertising aggregator 504 may select oneor more advertisements from the aggregated advertising to display. Thisselection may involve an advanced matching process described above. Aselected advertisement displayer 508 coupled to the advertising selector506 may display the selected advertisements on a results page responsiveto the search query. If the search query would not ordinarily result ina results page having no sponsored search advertising, then apre-designated sponsored search advertising results page displayer 510coupled to the sponsored search results page search query determiner 502may display the results page with the pre-designated sponsored searchadvertising.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for deliveringadvertising to a user in accordance with another embodiment of thepresent invention. Each element of this apparatus may be embodied inhardware, software, or any combination thereof. A search query receiver600 may receive a search query from the user, wherein the search queryis comprised of two or more search terms. A sponsored search resultspage search query determiner 602 coupled to the search query receiver600 may determine if the search query would ordinarily result in aresults page having no sponsored search advertising. If the search querywould ordinarily result in a results page having no sponsored searchadvertising, a search query category classifier 604 coupled to thesponsored search results page search query determiner 602 may classifythe search query into a category, wherein one or more other queries havealready been classified into the category. An other query categoryadvertising aggregator 606 coupled to the search query categoryclassifier 604 may aggregate advertising that would ordinarily bedisplayed in response to the other queries classified into the category.An advertising selector 608 coupled to the other query categoryadvertising aggregator 606 may select one or more advertisements fromthe aggregated advertising to display. This selection may involve anadvanced matching process described above. A selected advertisementdisplayer 610 coupled to the advertising selector 608 may display theselected advertisements on a results page responsive to the searchquery. If the search query would not ordinarily result in a results pagehaving no sponsored search advertising, then a pre-designated sponsoredsearch advertising results page displayer 612 coupled to the sponsoredsearch results page search query determiner 602 may display the resultspage with the pre-designated sponsored search advertising.

It should also be noted that the present invention may be implemented onany computing platform and in any network topology in which search is auseful functionality. For example and as illustrated in FIG. 7,implementations are contemplated in which the user applications areemployed on personal computers 702, media computing platforms 703 (e.g.,cable and satellite set top boxes with navigation and recordingcapabilities (e.g., Tivo)), handheld computing devices (e.g., PDAs) 704,cell phones 706, or any other type of portable communication platform.As discussed above, such applications may be resident on such devices,e.g., as part of a browser or other application, or be served up from aremote site, e.g., in a Web page, (represented by server 708 and datastore 710). The invention may also be practiced in a wide variety ofnetwork environments (represented by network 712), e.g., TCP/IP-basednetworks, telecommunications networks, wireless networks, etc.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood bythose skilled in the art that changes in the form and details of thedisclosed embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit orscope of the invention. In addition, although various advantages,aspects, and objects of the present invention have been discussed hereinwith reference to various embodiments, it will be understood that thescope of the invention should not be limited by reference to suchadvantages, aspects, and objects. Rather, the scope of the inventionshould be determined with reference to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:identifying a search query, wherein the search query is comprised of twoor more search terms; determining whether the search query wouldordinarily result in a results page having no sponsored searchadvertising, wherein sponsored search advertising is advertising whereina sponsor pays to have a particular search term combination return aresults page in which the sponsor's link is displayed as a substantivesearch result; and providing a financial incentive, to pay for sponsoredsearch advertising for the search query according to a result of thedetermining, wherein the financial incentive is one that is not offeredwhen the search query would ordinarily result in a results page havingsponsored search advertising.
 2. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein the financial incentive comprises: charging a sponsoredsearch advertiser of a selected sponsored search advertisement adiscounted rate for one or more selected sponsored searchadvertisements.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, whereinthe discounted rate is calculated based on the relevancy of the searchquery to the particular search term combination purchased by thesponsored search advertiser.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim2, wherein the discounted rate factors in a geographic location of thesponsored search advertiser.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim2, wherein the discounted rate factors in a popularity of the searchterms.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein thefinancial incentive comprises: temporarily charging sponsored searchadvertisers of the selected sponsored search advertisements nothing forthe selected sponsored search advertisements even if users click on theselected sponsored search advertisements.
 7. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 2, wherein the discounted rate factors in a sponsoredsearch advertising rate for one or more of the search terms.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the discounted ratefactors in a weighting applied to each of the search terms.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sponsored searchadvertising is pay-per-click advertising.
 10. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, further comprising: selecting one or more sponsoredsearch advertisements with historically high click through rates. 11.The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein providing afinancial incentive comprises charging sponsored search advertisers ofthe selected sponsored search advertisements a discounted rate for theselected sponsored search advertisements.
 12. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 10, wherein providing a financial incentive comprises:charging sponsored search advertisers of the selected sponsored searchadvertisements nothing for the selected sponsored search advertisementseven if users click on the selected sponsored search advertisements. 13.An apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a memory, at least one of theprocessor or the memory being configured for: identifying a searchquery, wherein the search query is comprised of two or more searchterms; determining whether the search query would ordinarily result in aresults page having no sponsored search advertising, wherein sponsoredsearch advertising is advertising wherein a sponsor pays to have aparticular search term combination return a results page in which thesponsor's link is displayed as a substantive search result; andproviding a financial incentive, to pay for sponsored search advertisingfor the search query according to a result of the determining, whereinthe financial incentive is one that is not offered when the search querywould ordinarily result in a results page having sponsored searchadvertising.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the financialincentive comprises: charging a sponsored search advertiser of aselected sponsored search advertisement a discounted rate for one ormore selected sponsored search advertisements.
 15. The apparatus ofclaim 14, wherein the discounted rate is calculated based on therelevancy of the search query to the particular search term combinationpurchased by the sponsored search advertiser.
 16. The apparatus of claim14, wherein the discounted rate factors in a geographic location of thesponsored search advertiser.
 17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein thediscounted rate factors in a popularity of the search terms.
 18. Theapparatus of claim 14, wherein the financial incentive comprises:temporarily charging sponsored search advertisers of the selectedsponsored search advertisements nothing for the selected sponsoredsearch advertisements even if users click on the selected sponsoredsearch advertisements.
 19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein thediscounted rate factors in a sponsored search advertising rate for oneor more of the search terms.
 20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein thediscounted rate factors in a weighting applied to each of the searchterms.
 21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storingthereon computer-readable instructions that, when executed by aprocessor, performs a method, comprising: identifying a search query,wherein the search query is comprised of two or more search terms;determining whether the search query would ordinarily result in aresults page having no sponsored search advertising, wherein sponsoredsearch advertising is advertising wherein a sponsor pays to have aparticular search term combination return a results page in which thesponsor's link is displayed as a substantive search result; andproviding a financial incentive, to pay for sponsored search advertisingfor the search query according to a result of the determining, whereinthe financial incentive is one that is not offered when the search querywould ordinarily result in a results page having sponsored searchadvertising.